UConn men's basketball coach Dan Hurley is finally speaking publicly about his decision to remain in Connecticut, despite a $70 million contract offer from the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.
"The Lakers organization was once-in-a-lifetime, to be presented with an opportunity to lead one of the most storied franchises in sports," Hurley said. "But in the end there was ... just too many reasons to be here at UConn."
The coach is a hot commodity, after he led UConn to two national college championships in a row.
Hurley said he considered his family's needs, where he was best suited, and his loyalty to his players.
Meanwhile, Hurley said in a radio appearance Thursday that his rejection of the Lakers' contract offer wasn’t a “leverage play” because he had already agreed to new contract with UConn.
During an appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” Hurley said it was a difficult choice between leading the Lakers or returning to Storrs to pursue a third consecutive NCAA championship.
“I don’t need leverage here,” Hurley said.
“I’ve got a contract in place here for a couple of weeks and the financial part in terms of salary has been done for a while. There’s some other parts, like NIL and staff salaries and some different things that I needed or that I want adjusted. … But the sense or the idea that this was some conspiracy to get me a sweeter deal at UConn is just, it’s lazy.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
